ABC Family Scraps Alice in Arabia Pilot Amid Controversy

ABC Family has pulled the plug on theAlice in Arabiapilot after receiving numerous complaints that it relied on negative stereotypes of Muslims,Buzzfeedreports."The current conversation surrounding our pilot was not what we had envisioned and is certainly not conducive to the ...

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By TV Guide

Taft Midway Driller - Taft, CA

By TV Guide

Posted Mar. 22, 2014 at 3:25 PM

By TV Guide
Posted Mar. 22, 2014 at 3:25 PM

ABC Family has pulled the plug on the Alice in Arabia pilot after receiving numerous complaints that it relied on negative stereotypes of Muslims,Buzzfeed reports.

"The current conversation surrounding our pilot was not what we had envisioned and is certainly not conducive to the creative process, so we've decided not to move forward with this project," a spokesperson for the network said.

Alice in Arabia told the story of "an American teenage girl kidnapped by her extended royal Saudi Arabian family and forced to live with them." After ABC Family ordered the pilot Monday, the project came under fire from public and civil rights organizations, including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. ABC Family initially agreed to meet with the ADC and CAIR next week before deciding to scrap the pilot.

ADC President Samer Khalaf is pleased ABC Family decided to not to air a show that continues "to unabashedly perpetuate harmful stereotypes, orientalism and Islamophobia."

"Arabs are always portrayed as one of 3 B's: billionaires, bellydancers, or bombers," Ayoub said. "But with most problematic shows, there is always room for debate. With this particular show there is none. We haven't run into anything this egregious in a while."